Consumer Guides

Also in this section:

• Questions and Answers About Health Insurance (.pdf - 174 KB)

  This guide briefly describes the different kinds of health insurance plans available today. These include network-based plans, nonnetwork based coverage, and consumer-directed health plans. Also, you will find answers to many common questions you may have about health insurance. Resources are provided at the end of the booklet to help you find additional, more detailed information.

• Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance (.pdf - 160 KB)
  What is long-term care? Insurance is an important tool for protecting yourself against risk. For instance, health insurance pays your doctor and hospital bills if you get sick or injured. But how can you protect yourself against the significant financial risk posed by the potential need for longterm care services, either in a nursing home or in your own home? Long-term care goes beyond medical care and nursing care to include all the assistance you could need if you ever have a chronic illness or disability that leaves you unable to care for yourself for an extended period of time. You can receive long-term care in a nursing home, assisted-living facility, or in your own home. Though older people use the most long-term care services, a young or middle-aged person who has been in an accident or suffered a debilitating illness can also need long-term care.
• An Employer's Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance (.pdf - 1000 KB)
  Long term care - it may well be the nation’s greatest uninsured need. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans describes “a potentially… serious long-term care crisis in the United States.” One reason for the concern is that Americans are getting older. The U.S. Census Bureau expects today's 65 or older population to double to about 70 million in 2030, and the 85 and older population to nearly double to about 8.5 million. An aging population means greater health care needs, particularly for long-term care services.
• Guia de Asistencia de Larga Duracion (Spanish language version of Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance) (.pdf - 1548 KB)
  La mayoría de los norteamericanos conocen el tipo de seguro médico que paga las facturas del médico y del hospital. Pero no conocen tan bien el tipo de seguro que paga la atención de larga duración en un hogar de ancianos o en su propia casa.
• Guide to Individual Disability Income Insurance (.pdf - 1072 KB)

  Could you continue to take care of your family and pay your bills if you were sick or injured and unable to work for any length of time? Do you know how much money would be coming in each month—and from where—if you were to become disabled? Not everyone is covered for disability income. Some can rely on their employer’s group disability coverage. Others are covered by government disability programs. But, for many people, an illness or injury that stops their paychecks would create problems for them and their families.  Disability income insurance can help. It is designed to replace a major portion of income when sickness or injury prevents a person from earning a living. It can help pay regular monthly bills while a person is recovering, but is still unable to do his or her job.  This guide explains a number of important things: The chances of becoming disabled; How it can affect your finances; Possible sources of disability income; What disability income insurance is; What disability income insurance covers.  This guide will help you think about how much income you would need if you became disabled and were unable to work, and possible sources of disability income. It also includes a checklist to help you compare disability income insurance policies.

• Disability Insurance: A Missing Piece in the Financial Security Puzzle (.pdf - 422 KB)

  What are the chances that I will become disabled at some point during my working years and what could happen to my personal finances if I become disabled?  This chart book will help answer questions such as these.  It is intended to provide information about your likelihood of disability and what financial resources may be available if you become disabled.  Consumers, policymakers, and media professionals are likely to find this chart book useful in understanding more about how disability can affect the average American worker.

• An Employer's Guide to Disability Income Insurance (.pdf - 894 KB)
  When you’re looking at your financial plan and considering your assets, you probably think about tangible things like homes and bank account balances. But perhaps your most valuable asset is your ability to make a living. What would you do if you or one of your employees were injured or became ill and couldn’t work for a period of time? How would you pay your bills? How would your employees? Americans rank disability as a major source of potential financial misfortune. Protection against that risk lies in disability income insurance, a product that provides income should you become sick or injured and unable to work. It protects you and your family against financial catastrophe by helping you to meet daily expenses.